For the study, titled "Ultrasound 2012: Technology Improved, Usage Amplified," participants rated vendor performance in a range of scanning areas, including anesthesia/operating room, breast, cardiac, emergency department, intensive care unit/neonatal intensive care unit, interventional, ob/gyn, oncology, orthopedics and musculoskeletal, pediatrics, and urology.

Overall, except in pediatric scans, Philips Healthcare took the lead in performance. For orthopedic/musculoskeletal and urology scans, GE Healthcare scored well, and Siemens Healthcare scored high for oncology and urology scans, according to KLAS.

Study participants expected ultrasound volumes to increase overall, especially for breast imaging and in the emergency department, the report found. For breast scanning, participants rated Philips, GE, and Toshiba America Medical Systems as the leaders; users of Philips and GE devices also reported satisfaction with these companies' efforts to create better breast imaging applications. The KLAS study showed that Zonare Medical Systems and Siemens are falling behind the breast imaging pack, the company said.

The study also measured participants' perceptions of ultrasound devices' performance in four technology areas: ergonomics, penetration, mobility, and image quality. Zonare was shown to be the leader in mobility for the study, but the company's z.one device lacks penetration, while Philips' iU22 is less mobile but produces high image quality, according to the report.

GE scored high across all four areas; Siemens scored well for image quality but scored lower than average on ergonomics and mobility. Toshiba also scored low on mobility and scored average in the other three areas, KLAS said.